Chapter 5 - Stripped of Everything

By that evening, news of Evan’s dramatic fall had ripped through his family like a wildfire.

Stripped of his company car, his corporate credit cards, and his executive access, Evan was forced to take a public bus back to the residential neighborhood where his mother, Diane, lived. But when he arrived at Diane’s modest home, he found the front porch cluttered with designer luggage and stacks of luxury cardboard boxes.

Diane and Marissa were standing on the lawn, screaming at a team of bailiffs.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Diane shrieked when she saw Evan running up the street. "Evan! Tell these men who you are! They are pulling furniture out of my living room! They claim the lease on my home hasn't been paid!"

Evan collapsed onto the grass, burying his face in his trembling hands. "It's over, Mom... It's all over."

"What do you mean it's over?" Marissa demanded, her voice rising in high-pitched hysteria as she gripped her pregnant stomach. "Where are we going to live? What about the nursery in the big house? What about the allowance you promised me?!"

"There is no allowance! There is no house!" Evan yelled back, cracking under the immense pressure. "The company... the whole company belongs to Claire! The house, the cars, my salary, your gifts... it was all Claire's money!"

Diane’s eyes went wide with sheer terror. She staggered backward, grabbing the porch railing for support. "Claire...? That plain, quiet girl? You're lying! She doesn't have a penny! She came from nothing!"

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"She built the company before I even met her!" Evan sobbed openly on the lawn, uncaring of the neighbors who were now standing on their porches, watching the spectacle with unhidden amusement. "She owns everything, Mom! And she froze all the accounts!"

Within hours, the reality set in. The lease on Diane’s house had been paid directly by a subsidiary of Mitchell Tech as part of Evan’s former executive perks package. With his termination for gross misconduct and embezzlement, all corporate perks were instantly revoked.